RE: Re[2]: [scrumdevelopment] Rotten apple in Scrum team

I don t think that this guy is lazy or malicious. It looks to me like he s mind absent on work and/or has lack of concentration. This makes him slow. Of course

Message 1 of 124
, Jan 5, 2009

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I don't think that this guy is lazy or malicious.
It looks to me like
he's mind absent on work and/or has lack of concentration. This makes
him slow. Of course this is only my guess.

Do
you regularly discuss how things are going with each of the team, 1 on 1, not
necessarily formally? If not, why not? If you do, what’s this
guy saying?

And several times I
explicitly asked the Team to bring up all issues they might have. I
simply cannot reach this guy.

Maybe
he doesn’t want to say something in front of the others?

I'm not blaming him. These are the fact, I'm
aware of this and
probably I should confront the Team to this fact. I'm really willing
to help him, but I really don't how.

Ah
ha, Star Wars quote time:

Obi-Wan Kenobi: So what I
told you was true, from a certain point of view.

Luke Skywalker: [incredulously]
A certain point of view?

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Luke, you
will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point
of view

I
think I (and several others) are encouraging you do use other points of view.

There’s
no magic bullet. You need to find out what issues the person concerned may have
and discuss them with him

Although
you say you’re not blaming him, the impression of your emails suggests
otherwise. I’m not sure he’ll be comfortable opening up to you –
are you certain that he will feel that you’re there to help him to do his
work effectively, or looking for an excuse to throw him off the sleigh to the
wolves?

> I agree with the suggestion that you pair

with him on a few tasks.
I will do this, even this means lower productivity of other Team
members, i.e. whole Team. I hope that this investment will get some
results.

Mark
Levison’s suggestion was that *you* pair with him, not the other
team members:

Mark> In addition put yourself in this persons
shoes and see how they see the world,
Mark>perhaps even pair with them on and off for an iteration. You will learn
a great deal
Mark> - maybe it will prove your point, maybe not.

Roy Morien

We are watched, observed without knowing it all the time by many people, for many reasons that we do not know. That in itself is not a problem. What is the

Message 124 of 124
, Jan 14, 2009

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We are watched, observed without knowing it all the time by many people, for many reasons that we do not know. That in itself is not a problem. What is the problem is the reason for that observation, and that it becomes known to us.

If I am observed by people who want to know my coming and going so that they can rob my house, that will become a real problem for me, especially after they have robbed my house, and I connect that action with those couple of guys who seemed to be in our street a lot. I will then be much more vigilant and worried and suspicious in the future.

If I am observed for the purpose of being given the Good Guy of the year Award, I will be quite happy about that, once I am aware of the situation, and I will probably start to 'play to the audience' a bit so as to be seen as extra nice :)

So, motive for being observed is important, especially when the activity is revealed. In the workplace it is a case of what you don't know won't hurt you, until you get called in to the boss' office and told 'I've been watching you for a while and I am unhappy with what I have seen and I am now going to criticise you and make you fear for your job'. From that moment on you are going to be nervous, suspicious even to the point of being paranoid sometimes. Whatever the depth of your reaction is, it will be a big downer on your motivation and morale.

Of course, as soon as you leave the bosses office, everyone else will know that they are probably being 'observed' too, so paranoia will inevitably set in all round. The 'observing' is no longer unknown, but is assumed at all times, and also assumed for nefarious reasons.

Of course, if the boss comes out and addresses the group, and admits to observing the group's activities (which is not in itself a problem, and probably everyone assumed it anyway) and makes some good observations about success and failures, and plans to overcoming the problems, then everyone will probably be perfectly happy, and it is not a problem in any way.

Let me clarify on pt 5. Now, I have been watching this thread from long time and did not respond for long time, did I loose your trust just by watching it?

There are multiple ways to watch someone without letting them know and I dont think we loose trust becoz of that. In fact, the first time questioner "Marko" has been watching team and thats how he developed this perception about one of the team member.

We are being watched all the time by people who are near to us and I dont think we loose trust in each other. The action someone takes after watching for some time, may build or break trust.

May be the better word instead of watch is observe but my intention is mentioned above when I wrote that point. Any feedback, most welcome.

On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 3:30 AM, Hariprakash Agrawal <haricha@gmail. com> wrote:> Great question with very interesting debate. My take on this situation:>> It requires people management, inter-personal and team building skills; not> sure whether SM has this responsibility or not but my opinion would be that> SM play this role as well..>> 1. Try to have informal relationship, discussions with low performer over> time, like, in pantry, out of work area> 3. Ask tough questions in indirect way in an informal environment in 1:1> 4. Just listen, don't counter but empathize; don't blame and don't provide> solutions> 5. Watch him for some period without letting him realize that you are> watching> 6. Most probably, low performer will understand and improve over time; if> not, ask team opinion preferably 1:1 with each team member. if negative, its> time to look for some kind of job which suits him/her most>> Regards,> Hariprakash>> On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 10:39 PM, majkic.sensei <majkic@gmail. com> wrote:>>>> Hi,>> I have situation considering Scrum metrics. I use team velocity based>> on user story points. Everything works fine, but when I take a look at>> individual contributions, I was surprised.>>>> Average contribution per developer is 38 usp (user story points). One>> of the members makes only 19 usp - twice less than the others.>>>> Did I do wrong, because I measured individual contribution? Who is>> responsible for handling those situations in Scrum? Should I bring>> this to Scrum review meeting or I should talk with this guy in>> private? What would you do?>>>>>